Goodbye Summer 2012

With the last few hours of summer remaining, I'm thinking about how nice the weather has been here in Austin for the last week and am so grateful that fall is officially starting today. Hopefully we'll get more rain, but if I may make a request Mother Nature for it to be during the week so we can do weekend house projects, that would be splendid! 

This weekend we need to come up with a plan to tackle which house projects before baby comes and which ones to do afterwards. We also need to start thinking about more long term house projects in preparation of selling our house in just under 2 years, for example, replacing the bathroom sinks. Good thing I'm awake so early on a Saturday morning so I can get a head start on brainstorming, yes. #sarcasm

Back to Team Blue!

I'll be doing some massive blog updates this morning since our internet is back up and working in the mornings. Since July, our internet connectivity has been lousy to say the least. I would wake up at 6am, and have no connection. I would come home at 5pm, and it would be working fine. I had a tech come out in early-August to investigate, and it slightly improved, but we quickly were experiencing the same frustrations as before. The router was would have a blinking orange light when it was not working, and a solid blue light meant we could go online. We did not like being on Team Orange. :(

Yesterday a tech came out and replaced the router with what appears to be an upgraded version, and we've had consistent internet ever since, including this morning! I'm so happy!

Now that I do not have to fear about the internet crashing while I'm posting, get ready for some updates!

Early March

March has started off very well all around for both of us. We've received lots of rain, so our yard is once again green with weeds. I'm in the middle of adding new plants to the front yard right in front of the foundation. My boss gave me a $25 gift card for doing so well with one of our bigger customers at the end of February, so I decided to use it towards gardening supplies at Home Depot. I won another $25 gift card today for a contest at work. Hopefully I can finish it up this weekend now!

My youngest brother turns 17 tomorrow. Next year I'm want to do something really cool for his birthday. On my 18th birthday I got the Beatles CD I wanted and $60. Shouldn't be too hard to beat that!!

Marshall is officially on spring break. He's going to be doing his computer programmer work Friday and the weekend, then tackle his car (Natasha) during the week. I'm praying like a nun that Natasha is functional again by next week. I still have my Christmas decorations up because I can't get to the attic to bring down the containers everything goes in. Plus, it would be really nice after 3 months to no longer be a 1 car family.

This Sunday morning we have a tentative date to go play disk golf together. I've never done it, but I think it would be good exercise. May turn into our new favorite outdoors activity to do together.

My Girl Scouts event on February 25th was a huge success. We had 400 scouts and adults participate, and everything went so well. This upcoming year I've volunteered to help organize fundraising events for the Girl Scouts, and I already have a few in mind. :)

I started watching a new series (new to me at least) on Netflix from Showtime called The Tudors. I like historical based dramas, and although they don't have the history exactly correct, it's still interesting. The actors do a pretty good job as well. I'm also watching a 6 part documentary on the UK Monarchy from the Romans to present day.

Marshall's parents are planning on riding their motorcycles up to Austin Easter weekend, and we're looking forward to spending time with them. April looks to be a busy month for Marshall with lots of foundry conferences and another visit to Lufkin Industries. No official word yet on his summer internship, but it appears that the powers that be are unfortunately focusing more on the short term than the long term, and just haven't put much effort into making decisions about their summer internship program yet. We're still optimistic an opportunity will pull through for us.

Marshall's part-time job is going amazingly well. He can work up to 30 hours per week, which he's been reaching quite easily. This is a wonderful opportunity for him and our family. I'm really glad he has this positive purpose to focus on since he is half way through his college career, at a time when it is so easy to get distracted and lose sight of the finish line. We talked about this this morning, and both feel very blessed for this opportunity.

My niece/nephew Thiele will become gender specific on March 21st, so less than 2 weeks away now. My brother returned safely home yesterday from his 10 week deployment. Hurray!

Questions Answered

Here are some Q & A about us as a couple.
*When did you first meet?
June 29th, 2007

*Where was your first date?
First place we went together alone was Little Tokyo for hibachi; however, our first fancy date was to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

*When did you get engaged?
April 24th, 2009 at my college graduation party.

*What are your top three meals to cook at home?
Pecan crusted chicken, baked eggplant parm, and veggie tacos.

*What is an activity that you do together the majority of the time?
Go to the gym.

*What is your favorite TV show to watch together?
All three of the Stargate series!

*What are the three restaurants you frequent the most?
Jason's Deli, Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe, and probably Chili's.

*What are three restaurants you want to try but haven't been to yet?
A crepe place downtown, the Driskill Grill, and the Salt Lick.

*Name something you want to do in your city but haven't yet.
Take a picture with the Zilker Christmas tree in the background.

*How long have you owned your house?
On December 22, it will be two years--wow!

*What are your three next house projects?
We need to finish priming the trim around the house, install gutters, and put up a retaining wall in front of the house to cover some of the exposed foundation.

*What is your favorite CD to listen to together?
Flight of the Concords' second CD.

*What are any traditions you've started for your family?
Every birthday we get a massage. Each year I write him a fiction story for Christmas and give him a gift that relates to the story. Geez, I think that's all. I need to start some more, huh?

*How many pets do you have?
We have three cats:  Misti (female), Santa Ana (male), and Maggie (female).

*What vacations would you like to take next year?
We'd like to fly to Utah to see Marshall's mom's family and spend a few days at the family cabin in Wyoming.

*What is your dream vacation?
We'd really like to take 2 weeks and  travel to Stokholm, Copenhagen and Berlin.

*What are your career goals?
He wants to be an engineer in the manufacturing or foundry industries. I don't have any career goals at the moment because I'm going to be a SAHM within the next two years.

*What are your degrees in?
His will be Industrial Engineering--Manufacturing in 2014. My BA is in Spanish with a minor in Political Science.

*Where would you like to move to after your current city?
Ultimately I'd like to move to Couer d'Alene, Idaho, but I'm willing to move to a different city that meets the same requirements as CDA. If M gets a job offer in a different city in Texas, we'll probably take it though.

*What is key to your marriage?
I believe we have a strong marriage because we don't hold each other's faults against that person.

*What is an activity that you each like but do not do together?
He really likes paintball, but I'm afraid of bruising so I don't go with him. I love to hunt, but he has a hard time killing a fly.

*Ever thought about getting a dog?
Yes, but we don't have the time or energy for a dog. He would want a yellow lab, but I wouldn't. I prefer a medium size dog or a swiss mountain dog.

*How many children do you want?
Probably three.

*What are your current financial goals?
Pay as much as possible towards our house and contribute to my 401(k). Adding funds to our baby/car fund has been slow.

What November Means

What does November symbolize and why?
Season
Is it the illegitimate child of Ol' Man Winter? It's technically an autumn month but with snow, naked trees, grey clouds and the first mug of hot chocolate, it seems more like the official kick-off to winter. I use to loathe the month of November when I was a child because everything just looked dead and lifeless with the brown trees against the dull steal colored sky. Nothing exciting seemed to come with the new month. It was another countdown to a single day. Why couldn't there be other exciting days in November besides Thanksgiving? Well, I take that back. Every at my school looked forward to being off the Friday after Thanksgiving too. :)

Feelings
Grateful. Thankful. Humble. Meek. Gorged. Eager. These are just some of the adjectives we feel throughout this 11th month. We are grateful for our families, our jobs, God's blessings. We're thankful we have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food on our plates. We humbly bring ourselves to say our feelings this one time a year because it no longer is taboo to share something sentimental. We gorge ourselves on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, deviled eggs--you name it. We whip out our wallets for anything that has "pumpkin" in it because it is just so damn tasty. Then we become eager for Christmas shopping and decorating. So eager in fact that we now start listening to Christmas music at least a week before T-day.

Harvest
I think harvest decorations are cute, but believe that the average person is so far removed from actually working hard all year long for the food they grew themselves to harvest it in the fall and be satisfied knowing that they won't go hungry over the long winter. I love the rich hues of harvest colors and they make me feel very cozy and maternal, like I want to gather laughing children inside and we all read a book by the fire.

November is an unique month and each person will have his/her own opinion towards it. I just like thinking of all the different possibilities.